For Canucks, the known Ranger rides in as a rival

Missing the ‘Silver’ that cost him his job here, coach Alain Vigneault returns Thursday with respect

Alain Vigneault coached in Vancouver for seven years and got the Canucks to within one win of their first Stanley Cup. On Thursday he returns to Rogers Arena behind a bench with a bevy of New York Rangers.

Photograph by: Bill Kostroun
, AP

The most successful coach in Canucks history is now running the New York Rangers, John Tortorella’s old team, in a bizarre switch of roles no one could have forecast.

Maybe it’s a good thing the reunion is taking place in the pre-season where points don’t matter. All of the current Canucks enjoyed their greatest success under Vigneault, none more so than Alex Burrows, the undrafted ECHL refugee who turned into a National Hockey League star and $4.5 million-a-year player.

“Obviously Alain has been a big part of my career,” Burrows said. “He is one of the guys who really didn’t tell me any stories. He just told me how it was.”

Burrows and Vigneault had some history before they were reunited on the 2006-07 Canucks. AV was his coach with the Manitoba Moose the season before and it was Vigneault, among others in Winnipeg, who recommended the Canucks sign Burrows to an NHL contract and give him an opportunity.

Burrows was eventually summoned on Jan. 2, 2006, and stuck with the big club. Later that spring, coach Marc Crawford was fired and replaced by Vigneault. Burrows appeared in 81 games in 2006-07 and scored just three times. He was told by AV he was on the verge of being cut.

“It was Alain’s first year, my second year, and he basically told me at the end of the year that I wasn’t good enough and I was s--- all year pretty much,” Burrows recalled. “He told me that I better start working out hard in the summer because there were no guarantees for me to come back and play on the team. It was almost a wake-up call and, afterwards, he was the one that really believed in me.”

Burrows responded with a 12-goal, 31-point season and was on his way. The following year, Vigneault played a mid-game hunch during a Feb. 10 outing in St. Louis and moved Burrows up to the first line alongside the Sedin twins. It was one of Vigneault’s most inspired decisions as Canuck coach. Burrows and the twins clicked almost immediately and became one of the NHL’s most potent lines.

“We had a lot of success with Alain and we did a lot of good things,” Burrows said. “Obviously we didn’t get the ultimate prize like everybody wanted, but we came close. I think Alain meant a lot to the organization with his winning record. He always treated everyone the right way. He was good for me and he was good for a lot of the players in this locker-room.”

Burrows doesn’t plan to flick any snow at his old boss during tonight’s pre-season game but won’t hesitate to engage in a little chit-chat in a Rogers Arena hallway should the two meet.

“For sure, I’ll try to catch up with him and see how he’s doing,” Burrows added. “But, at the same time, we have to forget him and his system when we play the Rangers. We’re going to try to beat him as much as he’ll try to beat us.”

Like Burrows, Henrik Sedin also blossomed under Vigneault. He won a Hart Trophy, an Art Ross Trophy, was appointed captain in 2010, led the team to a pair of Presidents’ Trophies and to within one game of the Stanley Cup in 2011.

Henrik and brother Daniel were just second-line players under Crawford.

“It’s going to be special, for sure, to see AV on Thursday,” Henrik said.

“If you have a coach for seven years and enjoyed a lot of successful years, it’s always special. We were with him a lot, every day, for seven years. When he came in, he made us his first line. He trusted us and believed in us and, as a player, that’s all you can ask for.”

Henrik doesn’t think it will be particularly weird to see Vigneault behind the visitors’ bench.

“No, it won’t be,” he said. “It’s hockey and there are players always moving around and there are coaches moving around, too. That’s part of the game.”

The Rangers, who had ice booked Wednesday at Rogers Arena but opted not to use it, are in the midst of a stretch of four games in five nights. The day off meant no formal media availability with Vigneault until Thursday morning’s skate.

Vigneault, however, did speak to Sportsnet.ca columnist Mark Spector in Edmonton Tuesday, telling Spector: “I really didn’t get an opportunity to thank a lot of the people who were with me for seven years (in Vancouver), so I’m looking forward to that.

“When I got released, I wasn’t in Vancouver. I came back to pack a couple of weeks after, but didn’t see a lot of people because it wasn’t hockey time. It’s going to give me a chance to thank everybody.”

After they meet the Canucks, the Rangers will finish their pre-season schedule Friday in Las Vegas against the Los Angeles Kings.

The Rangers, and Vigneault, will be back in Vancouver for a regular season game on April 1. The Canucks and Tortorella are in Manhattan on Nov. 30.

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Alain Vigneault coached in Vancouver for seven years and got the Canucks to within one win of their first Stanley Cup. On Thursday he returns to Rogers Arena behind a bench with a bevy of New York Rangers.

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